Landscape In Estonia Research Articles

The Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus) in a production forestry context: A territory mapping study

In Northern Europe, the Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus) is a relatively poorly studied species inhabiting forested landscapes where it has historically experienced population declines. Those declines have been attributed to the spread of intensive forest management; yet, the populations have stabilized or increased in recent decades. To distinguish the main forestry impacts on its breeding numbers and distribution, a multiple-visit territory-mapping study was carried out over 15 km2 of production forest landscape in Estonia. At the landscape scale, the breeding distribution was concentrated to conifer forests on bog peat where the densities were five times higher than in other conifer forests and (at least) ten times higher than in non-conifer forests. This reveals a broad distribution pattern where high-density (core) habitats only host a small fraction of the total population; their relative contribution to the recruitment remains unknown. At the breeding territory scale (within 150 m from a nest), Mistle Thrushes avoided recent clear-cuts and preferred larger areas of old stands more than expected from the distribution of suitable stands for nesting. This indicated that, in a short term, clear-cutting reduces nesting habitats of this species disproportionately more than expected from the cut area alone; this is in accordance with the documented 20th century declines of the species in Fennoscandia. The relationship with forestry drainage is more complicated, however, due to delayed effects and covariation with the main breeding habitat. The basic ecology of the species in conifer forest-wetland landscapes, which are subjected to management pressures, warrants future studies and might provide general insights into the dynamics and functioning of these ecosystems.

The prevalence of germline pathogenic variants in Estonian colorectal cancer patients: results from routine clinical setting 2016-2021.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in Estonia in both women and men. According to the Estonian National Institute for Health Development, in 2017, there were 357 new colon cancer only cases in women and 282 in men. For colorectal cancer, the number for men and women altogether was 1040 in the same year. In 2018, there were over 1.8 million new cases worldwide. The Mayo Clinic found in a prospective, two-year multi-site study of CRC patients that 15.5% of patients carried pathogenic germline variants (PGV), using an >80 gene Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) panel. Material and methods: This retrospective study aimed to analyse the estimated prevalence of pathogenic/likely pathogenic germline variants in Estonian colorectal cancer patients using NGS in a routine clinical setting. We gathered five-year data (July 2016-July 2021) of colorectal cancer patients (mostly not selected for age or family history) tested with either Illumina TruSight Cancer (94 genes) or TruSight Hereditary Cancer (113 genes) NGS panels. Results: Three hundred and fourteen NGS analyses were performed due to either CRC or polyposis in anamnesis and/or family anamnesis, including 126 CRC cases and 44 colorectal polyposis cases, while 144 were either healthy family members or had other types of cancers. While a known disease-causing variant was identified in 16.4% of all cancer patients tested, we found that 21.4% of CRC patients had such a variant. Among the 44 colorectal polyps cases MLH1, gene was the most affected one (25%), the second and third most affected genes were MSH2 and CHEK2. Other genes with disease-causing variants found in CRC patients included APC, BLM, BMPR1A, BRCA1, FANCM, MSH6, MUTYH, PMS2, SMAD4, SPINK1 and VHL. Conclusion: Our result give an overview of genetic testing of CRC patients, the prevalence of disease-causing variants and their landscape in Estonia. According to Estonian data, only 2.7-6.1% of CRC patients are genetically tested, which is around ten times less frequently than breast cancer patients and their family members. The diagnostic yield of CRC patients is 21.4%, suggesting that genetic testing will likely improve timely diagnosis and outcomes.

A Comparative Study on Cooling Period Thermal Comfort Assessment in Modern Open Office Landscape in Estonia

Local thermal comfort and draught rate has been studied widely. There has been more meaningful research performed in controlled boundary condition situations than in actual work environments involving occupants. Thermal comfort conditions in office buildings in Estonia have been barely investigated in the past. In this paper, the results of thermal comfort and draught rate assessment in five office buildings in Tallinn are presented and discussed. Studied office landscapes vary in heating, ventilation and cooling system parameters, room units, and elements. All sample buildings were less than six years old, equipped with dedicated outdoor air ventilation system and room conditioning units. The on-site measurements consisted of thermal comfort and draught rate assessment with indoor climate questionnaire. The purpose of the survey is to assess the correspondence between heating, ventilation and cooling system design, and the actual situation. Results show, whether and in what extent the standard-based criteria for thermal comfort is suitable for actual usage of the occupants. Preferring one room conditioning unit type or system may not guarantee better thermal environment without draught. Although some heating, ventilation and cooling systems observed in this study should create the prerequisites for ensuring more comfort, results show that this is not the case for all buildings in this study.

Increased nest predation near protected capercaillie leks: a caveat against small reserves

Protecting animal aggregation sites is intuitively an efficient conservation approach, particularly for threatened species in fragmented landscapes. However, the appropriate scale of protection depends on accompanying threats, such as predator attraction to the same aggregation sites, to which the target species may need to respond by moving to alternative habitat patches. We performed experiments using artificial ground nests around protected capercaillie leks in commercially managed forest landscape in Estonia. We considered two scales: the landscape up to 3 km from the lek centre, and among 10–30-ha forest compartments, which differed in predator abundance. We found that nest predation significantly declined with distance from the lek. Nests were depredated by multiple mammalian and avian predator species and total predator abundance explained most of the between-forest variation in predation rate. Our results indicate that, in this hemiboreal area, (i) ground nest predation is largely determined by landscape-scale distribution of predators and (ii) predators can aggregate at capercaillie leks. The implication is that lek-centred habitat protection used for the capercaillie and other grouse may be ineffective unless the peripheral habitat quality and predator abundance are specifically addressed. More generally, predation pressure can be a serious problem in small set-asides within hostile landscapes for threatened ground-nesting birds.

‘Nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten’: Cultural sustainability in ruptured landscapes in Estonia

ABSTRACTThe author considers landscape heritage from a cultural sustainability perspective in order to develop an understanding of genealogy, cultural politics, and practices of the World War II heritage construction in the Soviet Union. The primary research question was: What were the mechanisms of heritage construction from a mnemohistoric point of view, as conceptualised by Jan Assmann? With this in mind, a detailed investigation analysis of Soviet World War II memorials in Estonia was performed, taking into account examples of Soviet propaganda texts, visual representations, and war commemoration practices, as well as site visits to commemoration places. The analysis traces social change as landscapes of rupture. One outcome considered is cultural sustainability as a strategy for social cohesion in situations in which a landscape heritage discourse changes. The author concludes that multiethnic societies may see new opportunities to find common values in forgotten landscape heritage.

Brushwood removal from ditch banks attracts breeding frogs in drained forests

Forestry drainage has transformed extensive North-European wetlands to homogeneous forests with a dense network of open ditches. In such drained wetlands, small sun-exposed temporary water-bodies – a favoured breeding habitat for amphibians – are replaced by linear ditch corridors that become increasingly shaded by woody vegetation. We explored whether simple removal of woody vegetation from ditch corridors can increase the habitat quality for two frog species, Rana arvalis and R. temporaria, in a drained pine-wetland landscape in Estonia. Such practice is compatible with the forestry purposes of maintaining the ditches and access to the area. In a before–after–control–impact (BACI) experimental design, the mean shade above cleaned ditches decreased from 66% to 35% and appeared to be the main reason for a dramatic increase in frog breeding in the next spring. The change increased numbers of both species and was based on colonization of the ditches from the surrounding landscape. We suggest that keeping forest ditches exposed to the sun may mitigate the overall negative drainage impact on wetland species at least in the short term, and brown frogs could be used as focal species to guide these practices. In the longer term, however, such systems may not be viable without stable source populations in protected or restored wetland patches.

Transformation from state socialism to market economy; effects on agricultural production and rural landscapes in Estonia and Latvia

Transformation from state socialism to market economy; effects on agricultural production and rural landscapes in Estonia and Latvia

Habitat use of the common spadefoot toad (Pelobates fuscus) in Estonia

Habitat loss and degradation are the most obvious and acute factors which influence amphibian decline. Fortunately, however, habitat deterioration is potentially reversible. Recognizing the factors critical for the species is therefore essential for successful habitat restoration and maintenance. In this study we explored the habitat requirements of the common spadefoot toad (Pelobates fuscus), a severely declining species in Europe. The toad is considered a typical representative of herpetofauna in open agricultural landscapes but at its northern and western range edge the species occurs also in forested areas. So far, studies on the habitat requirements of the common spadefoot toad have only focused on agricultural areas and the significance of forest habitats has remained indistinct. In order to determine the habitat characteristics vital for the species as well as the function of forests as possible sink or source habitats, we explored 34 water bodies and their surroundings comparatively in forested and open landscapes in Estonia. Our study demonstrated that land cover type did not influence the presence of the species – the limiting habitat factors were related to soil type and quality of the reproduction site only. Respectively, the species preferred large fish free sun exposed water bodies in areas with sandy soil. In our study sites such conditions were best met in old growth coniferous forest areas. Thus we suggest that these types of forests holding viable populations of the common spadefoot toad should be protected with large scale clear cuttings as well as altering of hydrology avoided.

Growth, aboveground biomass, and nutrient concentration of young Scots pine and lodgepole pine in oil shale post-mining landscapes in Estonia

The investigation was carried out in 8-year-old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelm.) plantations on post-mining area, Northeast Estonia. The aim of the study was to assess the suitability of lodgepole pine for restoration of degraded lands by comparing the growth, biomass, and nutrient concentration of studied species. The height growth of trees was greater in the Scots pine stand, but the tree aboveground biomass was slightly larger in the lodgepole pine stand. The aboveground biomass allocation to the compartments did not differ significantly between species. The vertical distribution of compartments showed that 43.2% of the Scots pine needles were located in the middle layer of the crown, while 58.5% of the lodgepole pine needles were in the lowest layer of the crown. The largest share of the shoots and stem of both species was allocated to the lowest layer of the crown. For both species, the highest NPK concentrations were found in theneedles and the lowest in the stems. On the basis of the present study results, it can be concluded that the early growth of Scots pine and lodgepole pine on oil shale post-mining landscapes is similar.

Aspen-inhabiting Aphyllophoroid fungi in a managed forest landscape in Estonia

In northern Europe, the biologically rich European aspen (Populus tremula) tends to disappear both from intensively managed and strictly protected forests, thus representing a biodiversity conservation challenge. This study describes the distribution of Aphyllophoroid fungi inhabiting aspen in a hemiboreal mixed-forest landscape where clear-cutting was usually followed by natural regeneration. In a 4-km2 area in Estonia, 181 individual forest stands and cut areas were surveyed. Sixty-one percent of the 2831 live aspen trees found were concentrated in 11% of the area. Thirty-six polypore species were recorded on aspen, with old stands and naturally created deadwood hosting most species. Among the records of 14 pre-defined aspen-specific basidiomycetes, Phellinus tremulae comprised about 95%. Six species (Ceriporiopsis aneirina, Clavicorona pyxidata, Funalia trogii, Phellinus populicola, Rigidoporus corticola, Steccherinum pseudozilingianum) were infrequent to rare, but widely distributed, inhabiting various stand-age classes, and mostly occurring outside “key habitats”. All the seven species absent are of conservation concern and frequent in Estonian old-growth forests. Thus, rotational management with natural aspen regeneration only provided habitat for some aspen-specific species. For sustaining all species, such landscapes should probably be complemented with stands managed using modified thinning and partial harvesting techniques in aspen-containing mixed stands.

Assessment of methane and nitrous oxide fluxes in rural landscapes

We estimated CH 4 and N 2O emissions from the main land-use types in rural landscapes using data from the literature (950 study sites/experiments from the temperate and boreal zone published from 1980 to 2009 in 165 scientific papers indexed by the ISI Web of Science) and assessed the emission potential of CH 4 and N 2O from rural landscapes in Estonia. According to this analysis, natural peatlands and marshes appeared to be the most important CH 4 emitters, whereas N 2O is emitted mainly from drained peatlands and marshes, set aside areas, conventional arable lands, fertilized grasslands, and coniferous and mixed forests – all on hydromorphic soils. The estimated median value of annual CH 4-C and N 2O-N fluxes for Estonian rural landscapes are 25,519 and 11,050 t respectively. CH 4 consumption makes up 13.2% of the emission. The largest CH 4 emitters are peatlands (17,746 t CH 4-C year −1; 60%), whereas coniferous and mixed forests on hydromorphic soils with altered hydrologic regime are responsible for the bulk (51%) of N 2O fluxes. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) of Estonian rural land-use types (42,685 km 2) from potential CH 4 and N 2O fluxes is 5.99 million t of CO 2 equivalents, of which N 2O is responsible for 86%. Several measures for the further mitigation of greenhouse gas emission from rural landscapes are proposed.

Social landscape: Ten years of planning ‘valuable landscapes’ in Estonia

This paper gives an overview of theme planning on designating valuable landscapes in Estonia (1999–2003) and traces its impacts through the decade up to the present. We claim that in addition to the mapped list of valuable landscapes and their attributes as we have described them, this planning exercise called forth changes in society as well as in landscapes and their appreciation. As the project applied participatory planning tools unprecedented in post-communist Estonia, the Estonian word for landscape ( maastik) is now being used more in everyday language, according to the way its meaning altered in the process.

A methodology of the satellite mapping and monitoring of protected landscapes in Estonia

INTRODUCTION Ecosystems as highly complex patterns of physiogenetic, biotic, and anthropogenic factors directly or indirectly correlated with one another form a paramount functional correlation represented by 'landscape' (Leser & Rodd, 1991). The use of medium-scale (M 1: 50 000) satellite remote sensing has proven promising for the operative observation of current and historical states and for the assessment of the diversity of land cover (LC) of these landscapes. Landsat 5 TM (Thematic Mapper) sensor has many advantages in ecological applications (Cohen & Goward, 2004) because of its suitable spatial resolution (grain size associated with the grain of land management), spectral resolution (all major portions of the solar electromagnetic spectrum are represented), and temporal resolution (systematically collected remote sensing data over more than 30 years). The broad spectral range of the Landsat data offers good opportunities for the interpretation of the essential characteristics of vegetation (abundance, state of biomass, etc.), subsoil character, and, importantly, the water content of both. This is especially important in territories covered with peatlands, where the percentage of moisture is high in the vegetation and moss surface. Moreover, information from Landsat satellites has by far the best cost benefit ratio. In land use/land cover satellite monitoring studies high-resolution satellite images (IKONOS, QuickBird, SPOT5) offer a much greater potential for accurate vegetation mapping (Ozdemir et al., 2005), especially in mires (Langanke et al., 2007). However, they are more expensive than Landsat and not available from earlier years. Identification of meaningful biogeophysical features in satellite images requires the existence of a consistent and universal land cover nomenclature (LCN) for the observed patterns. The world-wide land use and land cover classification scheme (Anderson et al., 1976) needs to be adapted to local environmental conditions and should encompass all natural, semi-natural, and man-made patterns that can be recognized from satellite images. Their dynamics, followed on multi-date images, will reflect the environmental development. In 1996 a national project entitled 'Remote Sensing of Estonian Landscapes' (RSEL), focusing on the monitoring of landscapes in selected nature protection areas from medium-scale (M 1: 50 000) satellite images, was launched. Monitoring paid special attention to protected areas, but the surroundings were included to provide for 'neighbourhood ecology' (Forman, 1995; Kintz et al., 2006). The monitoring sites in Estonia consist therefore of protected (core) and reconciled 3 km wide buffer zones around them to better satisfy the needs of nature management. The objectives of the present work were: 1. Development of a methodology for highly selective LC recognition from satellite images by using GIS technologies and field work 2. Computer-aided classification of LC patterns in satellite images using classification masks 3. Highlighting qualitative and quantitative changes in the monitoring sites 4. Predicting LC development trends in monitoring sites 5. Selecting diversity metrics for the studying of landscape diversity. This work is an extension of similar studies by using aerial photos (Aaviksoo, 1988, 1993a) and monitoring and modelling LC dynamics by using Markov Models (MM) (Aaviksoo, 1995a). Recently, several similar studies have mapped LC and observed changes in protected areas, nature reserves, or natural parks (Poulin et al., 2002; Groom et al., 2005; Hilbert, 2006; Von Wehrden et al., 2006) and predicted their future trends using the Markovian approach (Flamenco-Sandoval et al., 2007) to name but a few. The present paper puts emphasis on a comprehensive approach, meaning the use of all available national and local GIS-based data, allowing us to archive a highly selective satellite mapping of the protected areas. …

Changes of coastal dune landscapes in Estonia

Changes of coastal dune landscapes in Estonia Coastal landscapes are strongly affected by their geomorphology, based on the character of deposits and moisture conditions. The main influences on the aeolian ecosystems of coastal areas are heavy winds, salt spray and lack of nutrients. An increase in the frequency of storms in coastal waters may result in the erosion of beaches that were previously stable or prograding. Coastal dune ecosystems are in different stages of vegetation succession and soil development. At present coastal dune landscapes are being rapidly changed by waves and human impact. In the last decade, research on the geomorphologic changes of the coast in Estonia has been quite noteworthy, but the associated changes in ecosystems have been little considered. The main problem for coastal dunes landscape is the decrease of natural habitats due to afforestation, recreation and building. In this paper our attention is focused on changes of Estonian coastal dune landscapes during the last one hundred years.

First‐Generation Forests Are Not Necessarily Worse than Long‐Term Managed Forests for Lichens and Bryophytes

Abstract For biodiversity, natural afforestation is generally more favorable than plantation‐based afforestation, but the difference may be less important if both methods fail to provide habitats for sensitive old‐forest species. Given that some conditions, such as substrates, can be actively restored in new forests, their effect on biodiversity should be separated from dispersal limitation. We asked whether, and to what extent, lichen and bryophyte vegetation is impoverished on old‐forest substrates in non‐intensively afforested lands of the twentieth century compared with similar substrates in managed long‐term forestlands. We measured the diversity and abundance of all lichens and bryophytes as well as the cover of human‐sensitive (hemerophobic) species on large deciduous trees, logs, snags, and windthrows on 30 random 2‐km transects in a 900‐km2 forest landscape in Estonia, hemiboreal Europe. Altogether, 235 species, including 39 hemerophobic species, were detected on 781 structural elements. New forests were not significantly worse than long‐term forests in any of the cryptogam community characteristics, which was explained by the predominance of natural afforestation (many native tree species present), time for substrate development and cryptogam dispersal (most stands >40 years old), few cuttings in the new forests (only about 20% of stands thinned), and short distances to long‐term forests (67% of substrates within 250 m). Under such conditions, afforested areas appeared to be as suitable as traditional managed forests both for developing multifunctional forestry and as starting points for habitat restoration for threatened species.

Substratum diversity explains landscape-scale co-variation in the species-richness of bryophytes and lichens

Though the habitats and substrata of bryophytes and lichens overlap, their diversity has not been comparatively explored at large scales. We studied lichens and bryophytes on 30 random 2-km transects in a forest landscape in Estonia. For each vegetation type on each transect, large broad-leaved trees, decorticate snags, logs and windthrows were randomly sampled and their species composition recorded. A total of 108 bryophyte and 127 lichen species were found in 781 sample plots. At the transect scale, larger numbers of lichen species were accompanied with more bryophyte species ( r = 0.49; P = 0.006). Substratum diversity explained 38% of the variation in species-richness for lichens and 44% for bryophytes; when this effect was taken into account, the transect-scale co-variance of the species-richness of the two taxa disappeared. Indeed, other diversity-promoting factors differed for these species groups: the residual species-richness of lichens depended strongly on the relative area of mature forest on transects, while the residual species-richness of bryophytes was higher in commercial than protected forests. The latter was due to the lack of bryophyte-rich substrata in the reserve, since the small-scale richness of the same substrata there was similar to that in commercial forests. For cryptogam conservation, direct consideration of substratum diversity and co-occurrence is extremely important. If the substrata have scattered distributions or the substrata of different taxa are aggregated to different sites, conservation measures should not be based on one surrogate species group only.

Media Use in Estonia

Abstract The article gives an overview of general trends in media use in Estonia over the last 15 years, making some comparisons with Nordic countries. Since the beginning of postcommunist transformation in 1991, the media landscape in Estonia has faced substantial changes. A completely renewed media system has emerged, characterized by a diversity of channels, formats, and contents. Not only the media themselves, but also the patterns of media use among audiences, their habits and expectations, have gone through a process of radical change. Changes in the Estonian media landscape have some aspects in common with many other European countries, such as the impact of emerging new media and global TV; others are specific features of transition to a market economy and democratic political order. Besides discussing general trends, the article gives insights into some audience- related aspects of changes, more specifically age and ethnicity.

Old-growth structural elements in a strict reserve and commercial forest landscape in Estonia

Although 7% of forest land is strictly protected in Estonia, it is unknown whether the reserves and the surrounding timber-production areas provide enough habitat for viable populations of threatened species. We mapped large broad-leaved trees, remnant trees, cavity trees, coarse woody debris (CWD; i.e., logs and snags) and windthrows on randomly located transects in a typical protected and adjacent commercial forest area. As generally in Estonia, the reserve lacked structurally rich mesic forests, had been clear-cut at least once within 200 years and, as a result, only snags with exposed wood were more numerous there (on average, 16.2 ± 10.5 snags ha −1) than in the managed landscape (3.4 ± 1.1 snags ha −1). The latter had more logs (17.6 ± 5.0 ha −1), including those large and well-decayed, and broad-leaved trees (3.6 ± 2.1 ha −1) than the reserve (7.8 ± 4.1 and 0.6 ± 0.5 ha −1, respectively). The average volumes of CWD were 6.2 ± 2.2 m 3 ha −1 in the reserve and 9.0 ± 2.4 m 3 ha −1 in the commercial area. When forest age and type were taken into account, CWD volumes were on average 33% and the density of cavity trees 42% lower in the timber-harvesting area, but the reduction was statistically non-significant. In either landscape, different structural elements were not aggregated to the same sites, so that 10% of generally best sites contained less than 30% of the elements. We conclude that the present quality of Estonian forest reserves is low because they lack structurally rich old mesic stands and have been protected for too short time. Restoration of reserve forests, protection of additional productive forests, and close-to-nature management approaches in commercial areas are the major challenges for the preservation of forest biodiversity in Estonia.

Estonian landscape study: contextual history

The history of Estonian landscape research is limited to the twentieth century. The most significant milestone in this process was the appointment of J.G. Granö as Professor of Geography at the University of Tartu who introduced the German systematic and scientific notion of landscape (Landschaft). This has been a dominant trend ever since, but Estonian landscape study has had numerous undercurrents and exiting interactions with other disciplines from both the natural and social sciences, as well as the humanities. This is a first attempt to write a landscape research history with a broader perspective in mind, stressing the wide spectrum of landscape studies by researchers who may not consider themselves primarily as concerned with landscapes but have nevertheless contributed to the discipline and the understanding of landscapes in Estonia.